


Cut to the Truth

by SofiaDragon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adults Fix Problems, F/M, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Identity Reveal, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Redemption, Good Intentions, Good Parent Gabriel Agreste, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 17:35:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SofiaDragon/pseuds/SofiaDragon
Summary: Inspired by chapter 4 of Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Myth Buster by PurpleBooks58“I want my wife back, Ladybug,” Gabriel whispered. “There has been no permanent harm to what I’ve done, no damage that was not easily undone in a moment, and I would not want there to be. Emilie wouldn’t tolerate it if there was, and what use would it be to restore her to good health if she stormed out immediately in anger? A bit of a scare here or there, perhaps, but mostly I’ve caused lessons to be learned and improvements made.” Gabriel closed his hand over the bleeding cut on her wrist. “This, however, this would be permanent and a true waste, and I’ll not allow it.”
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Emilie Agreste/Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur
Comments: 7
Kudos: 227





	Cut to the Truth

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Myth Buster](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24221599) by [PurpleBooks58](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleBooks58/pseuds/PurpleBooks58). 



> Wrote this super quick. As always no beta, so if you spot an error please drop a comment!

Hawkmoth rarely exposed himself. It was simple tactics: His powers allowed him to remain in a secure, secret location far from battle. Why give up such a huge advantage by going out in public? The few times he had left his observatory while transformed had been carefully calculated or unavoidable emergencies. He prided himself on being calculating and hard working. So many in the fashion industry were ruled by their whims. While it was necessary to have a lot of creativity and spontaneity in his industry, discipline and planning were also enormously important. True, a rising star could make it big on hard work and intuition, but long-term success was impossible to achieve without forethought and risk assessment. Everything he did was planned, even the choice to run with an impulsive idea or spark of inspiration was a deliberate choice.

Today's events were not part of any plan.

Gabriel had been going over the folder full of plans he had for Adrien that morning when he felt a surge of emotion. He'd realized by now that what he was focusing his attention on, in general, would affect if he could feel strong emotion or not. After all, there would always be someone, somewhere in Paris feeling some kind of strong emotion at any given moment. There had to be filters and rules in place, especially considering it was possible to use a strong positive emotion. The effects of that transformation weren't the sort of thing he needed for his plan to capture the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous, it didn't create fighters and the transformation would crumble away if the empowered person felt fear, but prior to Emilie's... accident... he'd only used the positive side of the Moth to give his business a boost. His intentions had always guided the power, even when he wasn't conscious of it, and the more he used the miraculous the more in tune with it he became. It was why so many of his Akumas were related to Adrian's school - he was more likely to notice the changeable emotions of those teenagers because he often thought about his son. The emotional pull he felt today was once again in or near the school building.

Gabriel had many plans for Adrien's future and spent a fair amount of time tweaking them to perfection. Of course, Gabriel needed Emilie to help him raise their son properly so a part of that was getting the necessary miraculous so he could get her back. In the meantime, he was doing his best to arrange things so that his son lived a happy, safe, and productive lifestyle. Young men did stupid things and made unforgivable mistakes in their first few relationships. Since his rebellion made it clear that he was growing into a young man, he placed a few young ladies in Adrien's path who were suitable for Adrien to learn how to handle romantic attraction with. These young ladies were mostly proper, likely to remain chaste, strong enough to handle Adrien's fame, and wouldn't have any hold over Adrien when he inevitably broke their hearts in some way. His arrangements with the Tsurugi family were a big part of that. In contrast, Lila would make an excellent lesson in setting boundaries and fending off unwanted advances when she inevitably crossed a line. In the unlikely event her advances weren't rebuffed because Adrien was ready to experiment with something more carnal, well, she certainly couldn't do any lasting damage to his reputation. The web of easily disproven lies she'd woven around herself meant it would be child's play to discredit everything the young woman ever said - so there was no worry how much of what she said was true. Within a week of whatever charge she laid at their feet, Adrien would be an innocent victimized by the untrue fantasies of a compulsive liar. The same went for any other damage the Italian caused.

This was also why Gabriel was not encouraging Adrien to spend time with Marinette Dupan-Chang. She was on a shortlist of young women that he'd suggest Adrien associate with _later_ , after he had made his initial mistakes and was ready for a more serious relationship with the potential to last. He wanted Adrien to be just as happy as he had been with Emilie: half of a power couple with the talent to ensure their success in life. Young ladies of the proper age with the potential to become assets to the company were rare, and while he planned for Adrien to take over the business he knew that his son had not inherited the drive to create or the spark of creativity needed for fashion design. His talents were in more concrete pursuits, and would certainly do well with the financial and logistical portions of the business. Young Kagami was a poor match for him primarily because they were too similar, but such was the way of youth that they needed to learn that lesson about compatibility for themselves.

No, he planned to hold a number of subtly rigged contests and events - not ensuring that Dupan-Chang won only that she was guaranteed participation - to keep the talented young woman close and find others who might also fit the requirements. The contests and prizes would both help him keep tabs on her development as well as ensure that unfortunate circumstances didn't force her to abandon her passions. Gabriel understood all to well that many with the ability to create art were forced into paths with more immediate money earning potential, he'd seen that fate befall others plenty of times - even profited from it by purchasing the rights to what remained of their failed endeavors to use for himself. Business was often cutthroat like that. He had mixed feelings about her turning down Audrey's offer of a modern apprenticeship in New York to give her a boost into the industry. It would have protected her from early failures, but only if Audrey's attention didn't waver or turn against Dupan-Chang due to some slight insult. The physical distance wasn't likely to be an issue years down the road, but it would have made it more difficult for him to influence anything in the short term and coming back to Paris in disgrace over some small thing would likely crush any potential the young lady had. There were other young women of course, both in Paris and elsewhere, but the baker's daughter was a unique combination of raw talent, compatible personality, impressive connections, and humble well-grounded roots. A prime candidate that he would be happy to nurture into a successful designer even if a romance between her and his son never blossomed.

The Akuma's flight over the city gave him limited awareness of the situation around it. Butterflies had different senses from humans, and it wasn't until the magical connection was made that he would know what the person needed. The name, powers, and costume design were created by the person he empowered using the magic he provided, he simply announced their name and ability to them as a way to stall while he assessed the situation properly. It made it seem like he was in absolute control of the situation and that helped him keep control of the person. He'd had to roll with a few very strange and surprising situations, like finding himself suddenly empowering a toddler or dealing with the pigeon fanatic again. He wasn't sure how to feel about Ladybug and Chat Noir thinking he was intentionally seeking out those targets, often his actual target had calmed down and the butterfly found the next closest viable person in those instances. It was hard to avoid Pigeon Man since he moved all over the city, so he never knew if the candidate he was homing in on was the featherbrain or not. The trend of using feathers in designs certainly wasn't helping Hawkmoth avoid unintentionally targeting the man. He really didn't know what he was getting involved in until the empowered butterfly hit its target.

All of these facts intersected to land him in a situation that horrified him. His Akuma had possessed a pair of scissors that were biting into the wrist of the young woman holding them. This was the first time he'd tried to empower someone who was suicidal, and sharing the thoughts and feelings of this young woman in this moment shook him in a way he'd never experienced. With all the anger and violence turned inward instead of at some outside target the magic presented him with an Akuma that would simply self-destruct if he allowed the transformation to take hold. That was not acceptable. None of this was acceptable. Marinette Dupan-Chang was not allowed to die by her own hand.

"Now that can't possibly be the solution to your problems," Hawkmoth said. He had a bit of trouble getting past the waves of hopelessness and anger to figure out what had caused this. Marinette's thoughts were almost entirely focused on her own inadequacy, which was ridiculous. She was one of the most capable young ladies in her class.

"Hawkmoth?" The shock and horror were chased by a profound sense of failure. "I can't even do this right." Gabriel was only vaguely aware that he leaped out of his observatory to run across the rooftops.

"What could cause such a strong and capable young woman to think that her life must end?"

"You win. I can't, I just can't do it. It's too much."

"Details, young lady. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage." She didn't, but Gabriel hadn't gotten where he was in life without learning how to manipulate delicate situations. "All this negativity and self-destruction is counterproductive don't you think?"

"So I can't even be Akumatized properly," she answered with a disturbing chuckle. "How many different ways can I be a failure today?"

"I want to help." Gabriel honestly did. He was getting close to the school now and started looking around for a concealed path off the roofs. He couldn't risk being interrupted by Ladybug or Chat Noir. "It would be an unforgivable waste for you to die today. All your potential, your creativity, your designs..."

"She's stolen everything!"

"Who?" He couldn't complete the transformation of the girl would become a bomb, but his magic was seeping into her nonetheless. Her ability to refuse to answer, or give evasive answers, was quickly being exhausted.

"My friendships, my design book, the miraculous, everything! And nobody believes me. There's no point to anything." Gabriel was startled into a stop on the top of a chimney at the mention of the miraculous. Marinette was sobbing now, scissors still held much too close to her wrist. Blood dripped slowly from the first shallow cut, but it wasn't enough to endanger her life on its own.

"I'm listening, and I believe you. That is how my miraculous works after all - I know that you are telling the truth because I can feel your emotions. I know your pain"

"She broke into my room and trashed it. She almost broke the miraculous box - I doubt she even knew it was there, but it got cracked when my sewing machine fell on it and I'm a terrible guardian with no clue how to fix it. She ruined all my notebooks and sketch books. All my designs are gone, she smashed my computer so I lost my notes about taking care of the kwamis." She was Ladybug - Marinette Dupan-Chang was Ladybug! That was perfect. He didn't even need to use his powers, he could bring her to his side as Gabriel. He leapt into an alleyway with the school's fire escape, looking for the fastest path to the distraught young woman.

"Who did this?"

"Lila Rossi." With the admission came a flood of information. Months of anguish, all of it smashed down and set aside so that she wouldn't be a target for his Akumas until at last the plastered-on smile cracked. When the dam burst, it wasn't long before the idea of suicide took hold of her. The last two days were especially difficult. Her idiotic classmates, and the reasons he didn't like Adrien associating with them were well proven now, managed not only to fool themselves but also convinced the poor girl's parents that she was the one in the wrong by changing the balance of evidence from their daughters word against a classmate with an unlikely story to Marinette alone against ten accusers corroborating each other's assumptions.

"Oh, I think there are a few things we could do to take care of her."

"By attacking her? Forcing her to tell the truth?"

"See now, you haven't really given up, and there are things you can do to fight back that would be far, far more effective."

"They wouldn't believe it. She'd make up some excuse, or they wouldn't remember it, or they would just say I made her say things that weren't true." Gabriel used his cane to unlock the emergency exit door in front of him, a handy ability he didn't need to use often.

"Give me a moment and perhaps I can change your mind. Dark Wings Fall." As soon as the transformation fell Gabriel bolted into the building, unfortunately setting off an alarm by opening the emergency exit. He ran down a short hallway into the central courtyard and then a hard right into the locker room, attracting a fair amount of attention from the students and teachers pouring out of their classrooms in response to the alarm. He slid to a stop in the back corner where Marinette had hidden, snatching the scissors out of her bloody hands as a white butterfly fluttered, disoriented and powerless, overhead.

"Monsieur Agreste?" Marinette asked. Gabriel pulled out a handkerchief, glad that he had a clean one, and wrapped his hand firmly around her wrist. Before he had the chance to say anything the door banged open behind him.

"Father?" Gabriel turned to see Adrien rushing over. "Why are you? And Marinette? There's a fire! We have to go!" Adrien's disjointed words ended when he reached them, grabbing onto both of their shoulders and tugging.

"There is no fire, I set off the alarm accidentally while I was Akumatized," Gabriel said, using his free hand to point up at the butterfly.

"What? Is Ladybug here?" Adrien looked around excitedly, but his face quickly fell as the details registered. "Wait, is that blood?"

"I... I'm..." the girl - still so much a child it was intolerable - stuttered.

"Did you hurt Marinette?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Adrien, if I'd harmed Mlle. Dupan-Chang while Akumatized the wound would have been healed. No, I'm afraid I was actually Akumatized because of her injury, so it must be tended to the slow way."

"I don't understand," Adrien said. The girl herself only stared up at him, clearly realizing that he was Hawlmoth and utterly terrified by that fact.

"I sincerely hope you never will," Gabriel huffed. "Come along, Mlle. Dupan-Chang, I'll take you home. Or if you'd rather, we can go to my studio."

"You! I mean. You are, but I thought..."

"Plans change," Gabriel said with finality, a stern look holding the panicking young woman's gaze. Gabriel would have to be careful how he worded this. "I'd thought perhaps eighteen or twenty, seventeen at a stretch, but after this revelation I am compelled to alter my chosen course of action and act swiftly to prevent this from becoming an even bigger disaster."

"What happened?" Adrien asked, looking between them.

"You are a child who has been through an intolerable experience, and now it is over. Do you understand? When my wife comes back, and I still refuse to accept that she won't, she would never forgive me if I witnessed such a thing happening to a fourteen-year-old girl and did nothing about it. I have let certain things happen because they were easily fixed, a moment's effort and everything was repaired to how it should be, but this can not be allowed. Do you understand?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Father, you're hurting her," Adrien said, touching Gabriel's wrist.

"I'm helping slow the bleeding, it has to be tight." Adrien gasped and stopped trying to remove Gabriel's hand. "As for what I'm going to do: I'm going to fix this. With the alarm, there is no need to call 112, but we should step out into the courtyard so we can be seen and this can be seen to. Come along, and you carry her things for her, if you can still remember any of your manners after associating with the degenerates here for so long." Adrien picked up Marinette's things quickly, though his eyes kept darting toward the blood.

"Marinette, you're alright now, aren't you? Other than what happened to your arm?"

"I don't, scissors fine, small cut," was her garbled reply. He'd read about her inability to talk properly to Adrien on that tabloid blog about Ladybug. It had all sorts of information about their class in a section that was less reporting (and Gabriel was using that term loosely as it was) and more the typical diary of events one would expect a teenage girl to create. With how many well-connected people sent their children to this school it was more interesting than most such blogs, but it was still mostly teenage angst and drama that he'd only skimmed to remain informed about the people Adrien was associating with. He remembered seeing a bit of this behavior himself, too, and it was one of the other reasons he wasn't encouraging their association just yet. He'd assumed she needed time to build confidence, but that didn't make sense anymore. Ladybug shouldn't have such a problem talking to a celebrity, and Marinette had done a few commissions for very prominent people. All that confidence, all her talent, and she was a gibbering mess whenever she spoke with her son. She'd also returned the miraculous grimoire, an incident that made a lot more sense now. He had already found out Rossi had been the one to steal the book in the first place since the Italian told Hawkmoth about it as a way of trying to prove her value after her repeated failures. She must have retrieved it and kept it to show Master Fu, but returned it when its absence caused problems for Adrien. That was all quite interesting, actually. Could the young artist have a crush on his son? That would be useful, both short and long-term. For the moment he really needed something for his son to do that would keep him busy for a few minutes.

"Adrien, if that budding tabloid reporter classmate of yours is filming, you need to tell her about the privacy laws surrounding minors. I trust you remember them from your dealings with other paparazzi? There is going to be medical and highly personal information about Mlle. Dupan-Chang discussed when the authorities question us and it would be both immoral and illegal for her to record, live stream, or otherwise broadcast such information about a minor. Being a minor herself does not exempt her from that, and while she'd gotten away with several privacy violations so far I will have our solicitors offer the necessary paperwork to her parents to pursue the matter if it occurs again today. I believe that they will be more than willing to pursue the matter once all the facts are brought to light."

"Is... is it that bad?" The look on Adrien's face is heart-wrenching. He cares about this girl, counts her as a friend at the very least. It was a difficult decision, but he didn't have time to deliberate on it. Marinette's trust in his good intentions needed to be solidified immediately.

"I will be telling your parents, the EMT, and the police the cause of your injury and the intent behind it, but I will not tell Adrien or anyone else unless you specifically request it," he told the terrified girl. She nodded her understanding, but still looked quite untrusting. "I recognize that you did not want me to figure this out, and I understand that you would not have chosen to confide this information in me, so I will offer you this in exchange: I know full well what you experienced. I know it from your side of events and I know it from the point of view of a family member forced to deal with the aftermath. I have lived this, years ago, and I have also experienced it recently. Do you understand?"

"Your... your wife?" Marinette asked. It startled a bit of unvarnished honesty out of him.

"I... well. No, or... Yes, partially, though I can't say in what way with Adrien listening or it would give away a great deal." Including either quite a bit more about how depressed Gabriel had been immediately after Emilie's illness advanced into a coma, or his identity as Hawkmoth and motivation for wanting to collect the miraculous.

"Um..." Adrien said, shuffling his feet. The alarm finally cut off. Gabriel spotted some disgruntled firefighters and Officer Raincomprix near the main entrance.

"Go get their attention and tell them Mlle Dupan-Chang has a very deep cut that requires medical attention. Then, both of you are going to be removed from this cesspit of an educational institution once and for all and put into homeschooling."

"What? You can't take me out of school because Marinette got hurt during an Akuma attack!" Adrien shouted. Gabriel snapped right back.

"The Akuma had nothing to do with this! Your classmates, in their supreme idiocy, almost caused the death of Mlle. Dupan-Chang, who is easily one of the most valuable and worthwhile members of the class. With few exceptions they have conspired to emotionally torture her for months - yourself included, which is a disgrace you will be explaining to me at length. You hate homeschooling? You want to keep attending class with others your age? Well, I don't care what solution to that you come up with, but you will not be returning to this particular building again for any reason unless significant changes are made to correct the rampant corruption and unchecked bullying." Adrien only gaped at him, and Gabriel turned away in disappointment to shout across the courtyard. "Officer! This young lady requires medical attention!"

The next hour was both tedious and stressful. A simple explanation was impossible, but he kept as close to the truth as possible. First: how he knew that the young lady in question was suicidal. While Audrey had been the one to formally offer to mentor Marinette, Gabriel had similar plans to sponsor her talents and was keeping track of the girl. He took that opportunity to mention her accomplishments and expound on her virtues quite a bit. He explained that he did it quietly for now and was holding off on an official offer because of her age; he didn't want any unseemly rumors and knew that the tabloids were vicious about such things even with the laws protecting minors from the press. She had contacted him to apologize for disappointing him some time ago, which was strange because she hadn't done anything wrong that he knew of. She'd said nothing specific but the wording felt very wrong to him so he found himself thinking about it. He caught up with the blog her classmate kept and was further disturbed, though again he wasn't sure what exactly was putting such a foul taste in his mouth. The sense that something was wrong simply wouldn't go away so he called her. Yes, he knew that was inappropriate during school hours, but he'd honestly not given a thought to the time. Next, the fake Akumatization, which he kept short and to the point. He didn't remember the phone call or his actions after being Akumatized properly, Ladybug handed him back his phone after he was cleansed so he guessed that that was where the Akuma got him, but it was an emergency situation so he hadn't asked any questions. She didn't have time to help him, but he must have told her why he'd been Akumatized because she let him in through the alarmed emergency door to signal for help and told him where to find the suicidal teen. He couldn't have been Akumatized for long, Mlle Dupan-Chang had only just cut herself when he arrived, but he really didn't know how he'd gotten to the school from his home. From that point he simply told the truth.

He had to repeat the story a few times, but thankfully he'd been sitting with Marinette while her arm was bandaged the first time he'd told it. The EMT had quietly suggested to Officer Raincomprix that he stay close since he'd saved her and it would likely help her calm down since the girl's quiet fear of him had released into sobbing and babbling about how badly she'd ruined things when he was led away, which was probably a gross misunderstanding of the situation but did work out well. The girl decided to go along with it, at least for now, talking only about how Gabriel had burst into the room to find her and stop her from slitting her wrists. The girl's parents were horrified, and even more so when he dressed them down about how they should have known that schools in France couldn't actually expel a student without a lengthy process.

Lila Rossi attempted to interfere, either to get his attention or to try and ensure she wasn't blamed, but that was a lost cause. When Marinette finally did the sensible, selfish thing and talked about her needs, her pain, her struggles, and her efforts in full ugly detail - omitting anything about being Ladybug - Rossi made an attempt to spin it as an ablest attack on an innocent disabled classmate. That effort was cut off when Gabriel's driver dropped off Signora Rossi, the string of texts he'd sent her about her daughter skipping classes, abusing her disability to get other students to do her work for her, and almost successfully driving a fellow student to commit suicide through bullying clearly served their purpose as the red-headed diplomat came onto the school grounds like a cloud of hellfire and brimstone. Angry Italian echoed as the enraged mother made it clear to anyone with even a vague understanding of the language that Lila was not disabled in any way, but was in every kind of trouble.

"Father?" Adrien's voice intruded on his musings, and he turned his back on the fiery redhead and her less than savory offspring who were finally speaking French again.

"Yes, Adrien."

"You said...," he trailed off, shifting from foot to foot.

"Say what you mean to say, Adrien, and stop dancing about like a monkey."

"You said you knew how it felt. Um, because of... Did you try to, after Mom left?" Gabriel stared down at his son. Adrien wasn't supposed to put that together so fast, and preferably not at all. The school had sent everyone home due to the police investigation into the very serious allegations Gabriel put forward about how the school was being run. Even now there was an official from the Department of Education in the Principle's office collecting copies of all the disciplinary records. Adrien had been sent off to be questioned separately and with how seriously all the adults and officials were taking the situation the only way he could have known that Marinette had attempted to take her own life would be if she told him herself. If she'd merely said he was allowed to know they would have had Gabriel himself tell his son. Even in the hottest fires of her rage, Signora Rossi had not mentioned the suicide attempt. "Oh, shit." Gabriel took a step back. He'd been silent too long. He needed to say something, but what could he possibly say? He couldn't lie and say it wasn't true, it would get back to Marinette, to Ladybug, all too quickly and he needed more time to explain and negotiate so he could fix Emilie.

"I never actually caused myself harm," that was flimsy but it was all he could come up with. "Nathalie found me while I was... giving the option more consideration than it warranted. Took the, ahem, method I was considering away from me. Well, I wouldn't have followed through with it in any case. It would have left you alone while you are still too young to be without guidance, so that was never a viable option. I had already devised several alternate courses of action after all, and they were all much more attractive options. Especially considering... ." Gabriel stopped talking when Adrien wrapped him in a tight hug, the boy's shoulders shaking.

"I almost lost you too, and I didn't even notice," among other nonsense slipped out of his son's mouth as he quietly cried. "She almost took you too."

"Of course not. I hadn't actually done anything. Do you understand, Adrien? I couldn't leave you on your own. It didn't happen and it would never have happened."

"It wasn't the first time, you said. You did it before too!"

"I merely considered the option for longer than is usually acceptable after your mother left. Of course, the acceptable amount of time to consider such things is not at all, but it was only consideration and not action. It was the first time I'd thought about doing such a thing and it is also not something you need to worry about anymore," Gabriel said. Adrien made a few noises that were probably words, and they were far enough away from anyone else that they had a decent amount of privacy. "What happened years ago was... unfortunate, but unrelated to me except as a bystander. I lost a good friend in University the summer before our final year. He couldn't take the stress and was burning out, failing his classes when he had previously been at the top of the class with me. It was a very complicated situation, some losses in his family to disease and a disastrous month after being outed as a gay man before the University enforced the campus rules and put an end to most of the harassment. Things were different then, even in the art world, and he even lost his job. After several unsuccessful job interviews left him struggling financially as well, he finally decided he didn't have any viable options left. I found out when his sister invited me to the funeral." It took some time even after Gabriel ran out of things to say before Adrien spoke again. He sounded small and lost.

"Mom was sick. You don't think she, you know?"

"No, Adrien. Never."

"OK."

_ \--Obligatory Unnecessary Epilogue-- _

It wasn't until several days later that Gabriel was able to speak with Marinette privately. He explained exactly what wish he wanted to make on the miraculous, she explained why that wish was likely to kill Adrien or Nathalie in exchange for being Emilie back from death, and Gabriel clarified that Emilie was not actually dead. A lot of back and forth between Marinette, Nathalie, and himself ended up working through the Miraculous book and Master Fu's translations to find a way to repair the crack in the miraculous box, fix the peafowl miraculous properly, and revive Emilie. When she contacted Chat Noir to explain the deal she'd brokered Gabriel got the shock of his life when Adrien revealed himself as Chat Noir.

The combined powers of the kwamis in a delicate ritual fixed the broken box and a potion restored the peafowl. Once he was restored, Duusu calmed from the erratic, destruction-loving creature Gabriel was familiar with to a more serious personality. He was finally able to explain that even if Gabriel had used the Cat and Ladybug to make a wish, it likely wouldn't have worked well. He'd warned Emilie, admittedly imperfectly due to his condition but he was adamant that she did understand, that using the broken miraculous was draining away he soul, but she was stubbornly committed to using sentimonsters to get more work done without having to take time away from the things she enjoyed. The more she used the miraculous the more damage was done - not only to Emilie but to Duusu - and restoring her health would do nothing to restore the damage to her soul the way it did for him. They could try the ritual, and he would do his best, but she wouldn't be the same woman she was before she touched the miraculous.

It was difficult to accept. He'd known that Emilie wasn't just doing it once in a while when it was absolutely necessary to make a deadline anymore. He'd watched with only occasional criticism as she went out more often, enjoying tea with friends, going dancing, relaxing in the garden, and taking Adrien to all sorts of activities while her sentimonster handled her paperwork or took pictures of itself in Gabriel's latest designs in the secret rooms of their home. Her stunt double, as she referred to the sentimonster she'd made, did more and more of her work for her as the years went by. There were even days when Gabriel wasn't certain he'd talked to her or the sentimonster. As her health failed she did less and less, spending even more time in leisure activities, but her productivity never fell. If anything she managed to get more done than she used to, even as Gabriel's gentle reminders that he missed working with her and hardly saw her anymore became desperate pleas for her to stop before it killed her. Gabriel had had quite a difficult time keeping up when she'd finally succumbed and the sentimonster crumbled, even after pushing much of it onto Nathalie. If they restored her, they would be restoring her body to full strength, but her mind and soul would be how she was at the end. Slothful, indulgent, quick to rage, impatient, and impulsive - perpetually dazed with a shoddy long-term memory. She'd essentially be brain damaged.

They tried anyway, too optimistic, too in love, too hopeful not to.

A week later Emilie Agreste was checked into a rehabilitation facility. She tested clean for every drug on the list, but the doctors and nurses agreed that she'd clearly been on something during the year she was missing. It was a shame, really, she'd been a powerful and accomplished woman once. The sort of person you'd hold up as a role model who worked hard and was a social butterfly, but still managed to be an involved mother who proudly had no nanny to raise her son for her. Now she was utterly delusional, insisting that her stunt double would handle everything for her whenever she was asked to do anything as simple as bathing herself. Her family took her back to England, certain that they could get her proper help that would bring her back, but they never heard from them again.

Nobody knew what happened to Hawkmoth. The top theory was that possessing a man who was desperate to help a suicidal child caused him to realize how horrible the things he was doing were and give up, with a conspiracy about Hawkmoth somehow using Emilie Agreste to fuel his powers until she escaped coming in second.

Ten years later, Adrien and Marinette got married. Nathalie Agreste took Emilie's place in the ceremony, which surprised no one. Gabriel was pleased. At least one of his plans turned out perfectly, and his son had a mother that cared for him again.

All in all, he thought he'd gotten his happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> As always I welcome all constructive criticism, invite you to recommend other stories, and will reply in the comments. 
> 
> If any of the ideas in this story inspire you and you don't have an AO3 account to utilize the fantastic "inspired by" feature, hit me up on Twitter or drop your links below. I'm all about that collaborative community.


End file.
